The Sword of Truth Fantasy series by Terry Goodkind is a series of 11 books and one prequel charting the progress of woods guide Richard Rahl from his protected beginnings to wizard and saviour of the New World. A review of book 2 is given here and links to reviews of all the books can be found at the end of this review.
(You can see the books below)
Stone of Tears is the second book in the epic fantasy series by Terry Goodkind called Sword of Truth, which has been turned into the TV series, Legend of the Seeker.
Stone of Tears begins rather ominously with an unknown unseen creature stalking Zedd and the seeker’s other friend Chase.
This creature attacks them and it turns out that the creature is from the underworld. This is the first indication that Zedd has that something is drastically wrong.
The reason the creature is after Zedd is because of a stone that he has in his possession, which he obtained in the first book, Wizards First Rule.
Zedd also realises that the creature that attacked them is from the underworld and they soon find out that the veil that separates the underworld from the world above has been torn. And this has occurred because Darken Rahl was meddling with the boxes of Orden.
The creature then goes on a rampage of death and destruction – but this leads to some humour from Zedd around page 35 ( in the paperback version) which most of us would like to identify with.
This book heralds the arrival of a young seer who is important in a minor way during the rest of the series. These people become fairly central for the course of the series and it is in this book that there paths are set.
We get an introduction to the Wizard of Prophecy and to the Sisters of the Light and we have the emergence of the Sisters of the Dark in a fairly large role.
The mud people continue to figure in a large way in this second book Stone of Tears as well.
As an aside, considering that we are talking about a tear in the veil between the underworld and the world above, I.ve always wondered whether the pronunciation of this should be Stone of Tears, tears as in crying, or whether it should be Stone of Tears as in tear, rip. So I think although the common interpretation seems to be tears as in crying I’m more inclined to the tear as in rip school of thought.
It is in this book that Richard Rahl, the Seeker, first meets the Sisters of the Light and begins his journey with them and learns a little bit about his budding powers but they cannot seem to teach him much.
There is an interesting undercurrent with the Sisters of the Light and certainly the ones that are in that New World, which is what the lands of the Midlands and Westland and D’hara and how they relate back to the Sisters of the Light.
In this book we are also introduced to the old world and the home of the Sisters of the Light and given the reason why those in the New World had no knowledge of the Old World.
As you might expect Richard Cypher, now Richard Rahl, on his journey into the Old World befriends a dangerous creature of the type of creature in book one, Wizard’s First Rule, and this creature proves to be quite instrumental in this and other parts of the epic.
We are also introduced in this book to the Wizard’s second rule. “The greatest harm can result from the best intentions.”
In this book Richard Rahl gets yet another name that of the Caharin, and becomes a sort of spiritual leader of the people that live in the lands just before you reach the lands of the Sisters of the Light. These people too are instrumental as a plot vehicles in the series.
Although there’s not much about Kahlan Amnell the Mother Confessor and the love of Richard’s life in this precis, she does figure prominently in various sections; she is separated from Richard Rahl for quite some time as he is journeying to the home of the Sisters of the Light, and he tends to stay there for some time.
He gets entangled with the Sisters of the Dark, escaping their clutches (although the main ones crop up as major players in the series) and due to his blossoming wizard skills manages to have an encounter with the barrier that separates the New World from the Old World, which has major consequences for the New World, and those particular consequences effectively take up the rest of the series.
Richard also learned from the Sisters that the type of magic that he has heralds back to an age 3000 years earlier, which is quite fortuitous as you will find out if you keep reading the series.
It goes without saying, although I’ll say it, that the tear in the veil between the worlds must be repaired and the Stone of Tears is key.
Prequel Book Debt of Bones
Book 1 Wizard’s First Rule
Book 3 Blood of the Fold
Book 4 Temple of the Winds
Book 5 Soul of the Fire
Book 6 Faith of the Fallen
Book 7 The Pillars of Creation
Book 8 Naked Empire